Microsoft Names Security Czar

Microsoft has hired a cybercrime expert from PricewaterhouseCoopers to head its computer security efforts, which chairman Bill Gates this month called the company's highest priority.

Scott Charney, a principal at consultant firm PricewaterhouseCoopers who builds IT security systems for the company's clients, will start work at Microsoft April 1. Before joining PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1999, Charney worked for eight years at the U.S. Justice Department as chief of computer crime and intellectual property, investigating and prosecuting hacker cases.

Two weeks ago, Gates sent a memo to all of Microsoft's employees saying that the company's greatest emphasis must be on developing secure, stable, and reliable code. "As software has become ever more complex, interdependent, and interconnected, our reputation as a company has in turn become more vulnerable," Gates wrote. "Flaws in a single Microsoft product, service, or policy not only affect the quality of our platform and services overall, but also our customers' view of us as a company."

Microsoft's products have been the targets of several hacker attacks during the past year, and as the company takes steps to plug holes in its products, it's also working on a strategy to make security measures more ingrained in customers' software-development models. Charney will assume the title of chief security strategist and work with Microsoft chief technology officer Craig Mundie. Charney replaces Microsoft chief security officer Howard Schmidt, who left the company.